Copyright 2014: Houston Chronicle |
January 28, 2014

Down on the basketball court last Wednesday, while Israeli flags waved across the Toyota Center, Omri Casspi had one of the best games of his career. All too appropriate that the Rockets' Israeli forward would perform so well on Israel Night.

Up in a luxury suite, Meir Shlomo, the consul general of Israel to the Southwest, was having a great night of his own. Joined by Alaa Issa, the consul general of Egypt, and members of Houston's diverse pro-Israel community, Shlomo got to see a crowd of Houstonians cheering for Israel. The friendly relationship between the two diplomats belies the oft-heard rhetoric that Israel is surrounded by enemies. At top government levels, Israel has functional, if not cordial, relations with Egypt and Jordan. And while countries like Saudi Arabia have yet to diplomatically recognize Israel, shared regional concerns lead many Middle East nations to work together to promote stability and prevent a nuclear Iran.

But leave the luxury suite for the cheap seats, and suddenly things aren't so friendly. Peace treaties aside, Israel has few friends among average Egyptians or Jordanians. And while Secretary of State John Kerry works behind the headlines to broker a new peace between Israel and Palestine, violence continues on the ground.

Rockets fire precariously out of Hamas-ruled Gaza, with Israeli retaliation strikes in kind. In the West Bank, radical Israeli settlers burn cars and attack mosques in what are known as "price tag" attacks. No matter what the friends at the top negotiate, it seems as if the people on the ground will keep trying to kill each other, with governments either unable or unwilling to end the violence.

Even here in the U.S., there is a striking opinion gap within the pro-Israel crowd. Polling routinely shows that a majority of American Jews support a two-state solution as the best way to ensure that Israel remains safe, democratic and Jewish. At the same time, a loud minority in Congress has advocated for Israel to permanently annex the West Bank, with little regard for any resulting civil war, segregation or refugee crisis.

The U.S. is working with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas toward a two-state solution, as we always have. Whether the people the two leaders represent want peace is a different question. We appreciate the need for Israel Night at the Toyota Center, but a treaty will only come when folks in both the luxury suites and also the cheap seats work as hard for peace as Omri Casspi does at basketball.